Banking on the Last Gift: Cornell's Signature Program of Postmortem Tissue Procurement

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Pathology
• Biobanking
• Translational Research

Background:

• High-quality, well-annotated, healthy tissue specimens are essential for research but difficult to obtain.
• Postmortem (PM) tissue collections offer a valuable source of biospecimens.
• Biobank-led PM procurement programs can provide rare biospecimens with short postmortem intervals (PMI).

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the success of the Cornell Veterinary Biobank's (CVB) postmortem tissue collection program.
• To assess the quality and utilization of biospecimens collected with short PMIs.
• To identify factors contributing to the success of PM tissue biobanking.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of PM tissue collections conducted by the CVB between 2013 and 2020.
• Data collection included number of biospecimens, donors, PMI, and researcher utilization.
• Standardized warm necropsies with a target PMI of ≤1 hour were performed by a specialized team.

Main Results:

• 4077 aliquots from 1582 biospecimens from 69 animal donors (canine, feline, equine) were collected.
• Average PMI was 43.48 minutes, with collections starting ~20 minutes post-death.
• A 20.12% utilization rate of collected specimens was achieved, with 65.22% of animals distributed.

Conclusions:

• The CVB's PM tissue biobanking program successfully provides high-quality biospecimens with short PMIs.
• Key success factors include support from veterinary pathologists, skilled personnel, and a robust quality management system.
• Standardized practices and specialized personnel are crucial for enhancing the quality and utilization of biobanked PM tissues.